Baudville, best known for its excellent graphics programs (Blazing Paddles and 816/Paint) has released its first
entertainment package, which, if nothing else, is sure to be
controversial. The game, a beautifully rendered graphics adventure, is
entitled Dream Zone and it is
bizarre ... but that's meant in the nicest way.
The premise is simple: Troubled by recurring
nightmares, none of which you can remember the next morning, you seek
help from Dr. Sigmund Fraud. His method of treatment places you inside
your dreams so that you can seek out and destroy the monster haunting
your nights. Your dream world becomes reality: If you fail to complete
your quest and escape from the land of the subconscious, you'll perish.
Simple, you say. But you'll never use that word
again in connection with Dream Zone.
From the minute the game leaves reality (which is depicted in stunning
black-and-white digitized pictures) and enters the world of dreams,
play becomes as confusing, illogically logical, and frustrating as ...
well, as a foggy nightmare.
The game truly conveys a dreamlike feeling. Perhaps
it's the Orwellian overtones which derive from the many animal
characters who people the Zone and with whom you must converse and
interact. Or maybe it's the frustrations of being placed in somewhat
familiar situations that should be easily solvable, only to find that
typical solutions aren't the answer in a dream. You must literally
learn to think differently and be willing to try bizarre things to
solve the maddening puzzles of the Dream
Zone.
While Dream Zone's
puzzles are convoluted and complex, the mechanics of the game are
straightforward and sim ple. Thanks to the use of the mouse and a
segment of the display titled the Icon Bar, 80-90 percent of Dream Zone can be played without
touching the keyboard, a real boon to hunt-and-peck typists.
The Icon Bar contains the inventory icon and a list
of the most frequently used action words. Clicking on the word DROP,
then on one of the icons in your inventory drops that item, for
example. Likewise, clicking on the action word TALK inserts Talk to ... in the Command Line;
clicking on a character displayed in the Picture Area inserts the name
of the character after the words. A final click in the Command Line
area activates the instructions. This technique can be used in almost
every situation during game play. The Icon Bar is further enhanced by
the ability to double-click on a word and thereby change its meaning: A
double-click on the word HIT, for instance, changes it to KILL.
Movement about the strange world of Dream Zone is just as easily
accomplished. To the right of the large graphic Picture Area is the
Control Pad. The Pad is made up of directional arrows surrounding a
center button. Clicking on an arrow moves you in the corresponding
direction; clicking on the center button results in an ENTER command,
while double-clicking on the center button results in an EXIT command.
Finally, up and down bars are located above and below the Pad itself.
Touch typists can take heart, however, because all
commands can be entered into the Command line via the keyboard.
Likewise, all commands that can be accessed via the top of the screen
pull-down menus (Save, Load, Edit, and so on) have keyboard equivalents
for those players who don't care for mice.Dream Zone
is a difficult game. While this isn't necessarily bad, it should be
considered a fair warning to those easily frustrated by seemingly
unsolvable puzzles. There are clues within the game itself to the
majority of the stumpers found in Dream
Zone, but the clues are subtle at best. Many of them are
discernible only after having found the solution from a hint book
(which can be purchased separately) or a telephone call to Baudville.

Also, and not to be moralistic, it should be noted
that you will, at times, be forced to steal and kill to accomplish your
task. The problem here is that, unlike killing a monster who is intent
upon dismembering you, in Dream Zone
you kill just to get something that won't be given to you freely or for
money. Of course, it is just in a "dream," your gun is a water pistol,
and the victim is (literally) a Bureaucratic Pig.Dream Zone
is a unique product filled with biting satire, outstanding graphics, a
streamlined playing system, and challenging situations. It's hard to
believe that the program was written by two high school juniors. The
game comes on two copy-protected 3½-inch disks. Up to ten games
can
be saved on the game disk, an option which should be used.Dream Zone
will be either praised or damned, depending upon an individual's taste.
Aesthetically, no one will deny the delight provided by Dream Zone's music or pictures,
both of which push the IIGS to its limits.